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Ultra HD : Recommended
Ranking:
Release Date: November 28th, 2022 Movie Release Year: 1976

King Kong (1976) - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray [UK Import]

Overview -

Of the many versions of King Kong, the giant ape who threatened the world with his beauty, John Guillermin’s 1976 remake has probably received the most mixed response from audiences and critics alike. The Dino De Laurentiis-produced blockbuster starring Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange arrives in 4K Ultra HD from StudioCanal with a pleasing presentation that offers a suspicious new color grade. Although it drops a couple special features, the new transfer and inclusion of the Extended TV Cut in 2160p make this new release Recommended!

The towering new 4K restoration of the 1976 event movie reimagining of the classic monster story, KING KONG.

Primate palaeontologist Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges) sneaks aboard an expedition to the uncharted Skull Island, warning the ruthless oil executive Fred Wilson (Charles Grodin) against exploiting its resources with an ominous message about "the roar of the greatest beast" from previous doomed explorers. En route they rescue aspiring actress Dwan (Jessica Lange), the sole survivor of a shipwreck.

Upon disembarking on the island they discover a strange primitive world of mystery and danger, where the natives live within the confines of a vast wall to protect them from the giant ape god, Kong. Dwan is abducted and offered as a sacrifice to the savage beast, before the crew rescue her and capture Kong to take him to New York. Wilson views him as a profitable Broadway attraction, but the ape has other ideas and escapes to rampage through the streets of the Big Apple.

Available for the first time on 4K UHD featuring new artwork by Sophie Bland.

OVERALL:
Recommended
Rating Breakdown
STORY
VIDEO
AUDIO
SPECIAL FEATURES
Tech Specs & Release Details
Technical Specs:
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray + Blu-ray
Video Resolution/Codec:
HDR10
Length:
134
Aspect Ratio(s):
2.35:1
Audio Formats:
DTS-HD MA 2.0
Release Date:
November 28th, 2022

Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take

Ranking:

Finding the right balance between open-eyed wonder and reflexive cautionary tale has long been a huge narrative difficulty for any adaptation of King Kong to achieve. Dino De Laurentiis purchased the rights for the film from RKO back in 1975, then assigned writer Lorenzo Semple Jr. (Three Days of the Condor) to pen the script. Striving for a realistic tone that’s laced with irony, the film made a ton of money but had only earned middling-to-positive reviews in the press. As it turned out, Semple Jr.’s slightly ironic tone was a bit of a mismatch for John Guillermin, the filmmaker who just came off helming another epic titled The Towering Inferno.

Hailed for its state-of-the-art (for the era) special effects by Rick Baker, King Kong replaces the Hollywood allure of the original film with crass capitalism in ways that sometimes work. Fred Wilson (Charles Grodin) is the money hungry Petrox Oil Company executive who is hot and heavy about getting to an uncharted island in the Indian Ocean to access a huge deposit of oil. Along for the ride is paleontologist Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges) and aspiring actress Dwan (Jessica Lange), the latter of whom gets abducted by Kong.

Of the many pleasures in King Kong, it’s worth noting that casting Charles Grodin as your villain is the best idea you could ever have in 1976. His daffiness immediately blends well with the script that’s constantly taking stabs at his stupidity and blindness to nature’s wrath. I’ll say that the performance Grodin is turning in isn’t reflected by the other characters, and that does cause the film to stumble quite a bit, but a big budget blockbuster that’s openly critical of oil companies kind of sounds like something that couldn’t be made today.

The production disasters on the set of King Kong, mostly related to the bloated budget and constantly failing mechanical body of the ape, cannot be understated. That’s why there’s so many sequences of jarring blue-screen instead of something more practical. These kinds of disasters add to your appreciation of the film’s various failures, though. If you’ve never seen this version, it’s definitely worth seeking out. Just keep your expectations in check.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
King Kong beats his chest proudly in 4K with a two-disc (BD100 for UHD and BD50 for Blu-ray) release that comes housed in a thick black case with a slipcover over it. Both discs in the case fire up to a standard menu screen with options to play the film, select scenes, set up audio and video or explore bonus features.

NOTE: We haven't been able to pull images direct from the discs, images are from the Shout Factory release - as soon as we can we'll update and hopefully offer a video sample. 

Video Review

Ranking:

The following message appears before King Kong starts: “StudioCanal and Paramount present this 4K restoration. The 35mm Original Negative was scanned in 4K and colour graded by Paramount. The restoration and mastering were then carried out at L’Immagine Ritrovata in 2022, under the supervision of StudioCanal.”

For those who are wary of the film receiving the dreaded teal and yellow treatment, I’ve got good news and bad news. Bad news is that the source of such illusory color grading came from Paramount rather than L’Immagine Ritrovata. Good news is that this 2160p presentation is a terrific upgrade in geometry and finer details than previous Blu-ray releases. 

Okay, so first, the color grade: the yellow and teal aren’t nearly as prevalent as it was in StudioCanal’s 4K releases of Cat’s Eye and Red Sonja. Certain exterior shots of blue skies and oceans definitely lay bare how revisionist this yellow-ish grade is, though other shots have strong whites and colors in close-ups. Although a bit problematic, what’s here isn’t enough to soften the many positives found throughout the presentation. Bitrate is also a bit anemic in certain scenes, which I can only imagine is because the three-hour Extended TV Cut is taking up a lot of space on the 4K disc. That being said, I didn’t find there to be any crushing or other issues because of the bitrate.

King Kong was shot in beautiful 2.39:1 widescreen using anamorphic lenses, so you have those really texturally pleasing softening effects on the edges of the frame. I’d say this new 4K restoration is a much better representation of how effects like those should look in a home video setting, rather than the somewhat-sharpened look that Shout Factory’s Blu-ray release sometimes gave off. That’s not to discount Shout’s release, as it too has positives, but I prefer the greater detail here and subtle Dolby Vision HDR layer adding some oomph.

Audio Review

Ranking:

John Barry’s lush score sounds wonderful in both the DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround tracks included here, but I give the slight edge to the original stereo mix. The film has a very busy soundscape between the score and sound effects. These various sources are handled better in the stereo track than in the surround track, especially in the midrange. Plus, the original stereo mix kicked in my subwoofer nice and deep a few times.

Special Features

Ranking:

This new StudioCanal release drops some of the special features from Shout’s 2021 Blu-ray release and doesn’t add anything new. That being said, the inclusion of the Extended TV Cut in 4K with Dolby Vision is worth much more than the features dropped, I think.

Disc 1: 4K UHD

  • Audio Commentary by Film Historian Ray Morton
  • Audio Commentary by Special Makeup Effects Wizard Rick Baker
  • Extended TV Cut (4K with Dolby Vision 3:12:56) 

Disc 2: Blu-ray

  • Audio Commentary by Film Historian Ray Morton
  • Audio Commentary by Special Makeup Effects Wizard Rick Baker
  • Deleted Scenes (HD 16:30)
  • Original Trailer (SD 2:25)
  • Interview with Photographic Effects Assistant Barry Nolan (HD 6:46)
  • Interview with Second Unit Director Bill Kronick (HD 6:25)
  • Interview with Messengers Scott Thaler and Jeffrey Chernov (HD 13:45)
  • Interview with Assistant Director David McGiffert and Production Manager Brian E. Frankish (HD 11:46)
  • Interview with Actor Jack O’Halloran (HD 5:50)
  • Interview with Sculptor Steve Varner (HD 5:32)

Final Thoughts

King Kong didn’t roar quite loud enough for people to care in 1976, but it holds up rather well as an oft-ironic piece of blockbuster entertainment. Although the new color grade is suspect on this new 4K Blu-ray release from StudioCanal, the 2160p presentation is really pleasing and the inclusion of the Extended TV Cut in 4K is a nice touch. This release comes Recommended!